


Forever And Ever

by Woodbyne



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-24
Updated: 2013-02-24
Packaged: 2017-12-03 11:46:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/697912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Woodbyne/pseuds/Woodbyne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When lovers commit double suicide, they are reincarnated as twins.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forever And Ever

_It had started with little glances, just little ones, mind. Under lashes and out of the corners of their eyes. They had danced around each other, metaphorically speaking, trying to find a way of knowing without actually asking. God only knew what would happen if the other didn’t reciprocate._

_It was Alfred who broke the thunderhead of tension that had gathered around them by pushing Matthew up against the bar, bruising their lips and bumping their teeth._

_And that was that._

_As far as the rest of their one-horse town was concerned, Alfred and Matthew were good friends and good hunters.  They ventured often into the woods and though some days they returned empty handed, there were just as many where they returned with some kind of game for themselves and a little to trade with the rest of the village._

_And they were happy._

“What are we going to call them?”  Marianne asked, cradling a baby in a blue flannel blanket to her bosom.  Thin wisps of Arthur’s blond hair decorated their puffy, wrinkled heads and though they seemed to be awake, they kept their little eyes shut.

“Alfred,” Arthur said simply, staring awestruck at the little by in his arms. “I think this little one should be Alfred. He’s going to be great; I can tell.”

“Mon amour!” She scolded, leaning protectively over the child she held, “Do not put such pressure on the little one; he is barely a day old!”

“Oh?” the father sniffed, nose in the air, “And what, pray tell, do you suggest we call his brother?”

“Matthieu,” she cooed, touching the tip of her son’s squidgy little nose, “He shall be Matthieu. Our little gift from God.”

“Now who’s putting pressure on the child?” Arthur scoffed, moving closer and holding out his own blue-wrapped offspring to hers all the same, “There. Look, Alfred, lad, meet your brother, Matthew. He’s a whole five minutes younger than you are, so take good care of him.”

“Matthieu, mon p’tit,” Marianne smiled as the two infants reached blindly for each other, “I know that it is your big brother’s job to look after you, but he will need looking after, too, sometimes. So that is your job, oui?”

_Matthew lived behind the bar where he worked in the evenings. It wasn’t much, as far as whiskey and beer went, but it was good enough for this town, and his sister ran it during the day when it served food instead of hooch._

_Alfred lived a ways out of town, and he had built the house himself. He was so proud of it because he had chopped the wood himself and he had put the damn thing together, and Matthew had helped. It was_ their _house, all two floor of its. It was dark, but it was sturdy and it was warm in winter and that was all that they really needed when Matthew would trek through the snows on a winter’s night after he’d closed up shop to crawl into Alfred’s warm embrace._

_The walls of their house were thick, and they were far enough away from town not to be heard when the pair of them clutched at each other and gasp each other’s names with hitching gasps and stolen breaths._

_It couldn’t last._

“Alfred,” Arthur sighed exasperatedly, elbows on his knees and hands clasped as he slouched down to his son’s level, “Why did you bite your teacher?”

“She tried to take me away from Mattie,” he sulked, a stormy scowl on his sunny features.

“That doesn’t mean you have to _bite_ her, lad. I thought you knew better than that!” The man said, fast reaching the point where tearing at his hair seemed like a good option.

The little boy refused to say anything and Arthur rubbed his face, fingertip digging into his eyelids so hard that spots burst and fizzed in his vision when he opened his eyes and found that he was seeing double.

Matthew laid his head on his brother’s shoulder, arms securely around Alfred’s waist. Alfred in turn had one, little arm about Matthew’s shoulders. It was very hard to stay angry at them when they were together. Their faults balanced each other out; while Matthew was quiet, Alfred was loud.

“We have to stay together,” Matthew whispered, his large, dark blue eyes begging Arthur to understand, “We promised.”

Arthur sighed, his chin in his hand, not quite knowing what either he or Marianne was going to do with them, and not knowing if he wanted to do anything at all.

_“Matthew, Mattie! Mattie, please wake up!” Alfred begged, shaking the man in bed beside him, “Oh, please, Mattie, they’re coming.”_

_Jerking awake, the barkeeper stumbled to the window, looking down with bleary, sleep-heavy eyes at the eerily flickering shadows the mob cast on the snow._

_“They’re going to kill us,” Matthew whispered, his breath misting on the thick, warped glass._

_“Not if I can help it!” Alfred grunted, and Mattie turned at the ominous, snapping click of a gun being loaded._

_“That’s the whole town out there,” his lover whispered, the voice of terrible reason, “Are you going to shoot them all?”_

_“What else am I supposed to do, Mattie?” Alfred asked, almost in tears, “They want to kill you. I can’t let them do that. I’m not going to let anyone take you away from me. Not ever.”_

_“We’re trapped, Al,” Matthew’s hands stroked almost unfeelingly over the other’s arms, trying to bring  him  in closer, whether to comfort himself or Alfred he wasn’t entirely sure. “They have fire and guns, and I think I saw them setting up a gallows by that old dead oak. We’re going to die tonight.”_

_“I can’t let them kill you,” Alfred denied, shaking his head vigorously, voice thick and choked._

_“You don’t have to,” The Canadian said, picking up the pistols that  had been set aside with trembling fingers. “If I’ve got to die, I’m doing it on my own terms.”_

_“Mattie, what- no!” Sky blue eyes widened in horror as the barrel of the gun pressed into the soft, pale skin beneath Matthew’s chin._

_“I can’t watch them hang you, Al,” Even Matthew’s voice shook, though the gun was steady, “If that’s all they’ll do. And I can’t make you watch them do the same to me.”_

_An almighty crash shook the house and Alfred jumped forward in panic, terrified that Matthew had fired the fatal shot._

_“They’re here,” Matthew whispered, cocking the gun. Shaking his head and choking back a strangled sob, Alfred snatched up the pistol’s twin, cocked it, and jammed it viciously under his own chin._

_“I’ve never said it, but you might as well know that I love you.”_

_Raised, angry voices reached their ears and Matthew smiled sadly, leaning in to give Alfred a kiss goodbye, “On the count of three?”_

_“One,” Alfred swallowed, his voice hoarse._

_“Two,” Matthew closed his eyes._

_“Three.”_

“Ready or not, here I come!” Children went screaming about the Kindergarten playground, screeching and shrieking delightedly as they played tag and hide-and-seek.

Alfred loved tag, and Matthew adored hide-and-seek, but they preferred to play them with each other, so they sat side-by-side on the low wall that bordered a bed of yellow daisies.

“We’re always going to be together, aren’t we, Alfie?” Matthew asked, his head leaning on his brother’s shoulder.

“We’ll be together forever and ever, Mattie,” Alfred said, strangely subdued as he kissed his brother’s fluffy curls.

“I love you, too,” the other whispered. 

 


End file.
